European Union

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European Union

In the European Union, enlargement, special arrangements for the expansion of the Schengen Area, and the gradual development of a stronger EU role in immigration have added new complexity to the policy landscape, leading to both new patterns of movement and new policies for governing immigration from outside of the European Union's 28 Member States. The research offered here focuses on migration policies, trends, and common challenges that affect Europe at a supranational level—from free movement to asylum policy and the management of EU borders.

As the European Union seeks to implement a Common European Asylum System, these publications and multimedia resources from MPI and MPI Europe examine asylum policy and humanitarian flows to Europe and elsewhere around the world.

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Since 2000, Spanish authorities have used a technology-driven system for detecting and apprehending migrants attempting to reach Spanish territory by boat. Jørgen Carling of the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo explains how smugglers have responded and why illegal migration to Spain continues.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who announced his resignation this week, leaves behind an immigration system that has been fundamentally reshaped. As MPI's Will Somerville explains, migration is now "managed" to favor migrants coming for work and study.

Since 2003, the Netherlands has instituted a variety of integration-related reforms to make sure new immigrants speak Dutch and understand Dutch society. But the political climate changed in 2006, and the new government is taking a broader approach as Chavi Keeney Nana explains.

Luxembourg's stable, prosperous economy would not be possible without foreign workers, most of whom come from other EU countries. But this small country has also struggled to cope with asylum seekers from the former Yugoslavia and to integrate children of immigrants, as Serge Kollwelter explains.

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This report seeks to untangle the economic consequences of immigration from the intricate web of influences that affect the labor market by examining the role of various non-immigration factors in determining labor supply and demand.

This book analyzes approaches, strategies, and best practices from EU Member States that could contribute to a sustainable integration policy. It thus provides European, national, regional, and local decisionmakers with instruments they can draw on in establishing a framework for integration.

This policy brief explores the often neglected migration management potential of “regularization” or “legalization” programs, arguing that properly conceived and carefully executed “earned” regularization programs can not only prevent the number and flow of unauthorized migrants from building to unacceptable levels, but can also set the stage for smarter use of enforcement resources and improvements in labor market and social policy development.

This policy brief explores two key policy issues at the center of the May 2004 enlargement of the European Union: the potential for migration from the new Member States to the existing ones; and the need to develop a coherent immigration, asylum, and border control policy for the European Union.

Through a broad overview of key policy and legislation dating back to the early 1990s, this paper finds that despite persistent efforts to coordinate an EU level approach to asylum and refugee protection, the process has been severely stifled by the lack of a philosophical consensus between Member States as to what constitutes refugee protection in Europe and globally.

Recognizing the particular challenges to refugee protection faced on both sides of the Atlantic, this report questions whether strengthening resettlement programs in the U.S. and Europe can help to address ongoing concerns over security, the volume and diversity of migrants, the rise of right-wing parties and the role of the welfare state.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., EU officials issued a symbolic statement that the EU was prepared to receive Afghan refugees displaced from the looming American intervention. Despite internal policy tendencies to reject Afghan claims to protection and domestic security concerns, EU officials seemed to recognize at the time there was very little risk of a massive influx of Afghan refugees.